Super Mario World is arguably the greatest Platform game ever created.
The story in Super Mario World goes that while on holiday with Luigi and Mario on Dinosaur Island, Princess Toadstool (or Peach) yet again gets kidnapped by Bowser, so Mario decided it's his duty to, yet again, rescue her. But this time it won't be as easy as before. Bowser has unleashed his whole family of Koopas and you'll have to face all 7 of them before you can even think about an encounter with Bowser.
Super Mario World follows the same basic footsteps of the previous three Mario games. It's still an all out, side-scrolling platform game where jumping on enemies kills them, and you can still get power ups for Mario, but the formula has been changed a bit. In Super Mario World there is a new power up, a feather that turns Mario in to Caped Mario. In this form Mario glides down when he jumps, and if you build up speed before a jump, with enough speed Mario will fly for a short time when you jump. Also you can do a spin attack in your caped form and this attack can even hurt Dry Bones enemies. And the Super Mushrooms and Fire Flowers remain over from the other games.
But the biggest addition to Super Mario World is that it was the first Mario game with Yoshi. If you find his egg in a level, you can ride him and he acts as a shield of some sorts if you get hit because you won't get hurt, you'll just lose him instead. While on Yoshi you can suck up enemies with his tongue attack and you can eat fruit found in levels. If you eat enough fruit, you'll get a new life. But the best thing about Yoshi is that if you suck up a Para Troopa enemy, if you spit it out, you'll shoot fire balls. While it's not essential to use Yoshi, he's a brilliant addition to the game.
Throughout the adventure you'll finish a lot of levels, but Super Mario World has a whopping ninety six levels, and that's far more than any other Mario game previous to it. Some of them are optional levels that you don't have to do, and some of them are hidden levels, but completing them is very rewarding and worth while doing.
Visually, Super Mario World was the best looking Mario game on release back in 1991. It was still 2D, but the game was coloured far better than the previous three releases and the game looks bright and vibrant. It feels like your actually Mario when you play this game. Sound-wise also Super Mario World is a step-up from the other three games. The music in the game, while simple, works extremely well with the simpleness of the game and it's a pleasure to listen as well as all the tunes are catchy.
Super Mario World is a fantastic game. It has packed into it all that made Super Mario Bros. 1, 2 & 3 good and adds enough, but not too much, to the game to make it a far more impressive Platformer. If you're a Nintendo fan, or just a fan of Platform games, this is a must play as it's one of, or possibly, the best Platform games ever created and certainly one of the best videogames of all time.
Review by: James Widdowson
Score: 9.7/10